Laptop batteries never last as long as the specification say

Anyone else has experienced that the laptop battery last way shorter than the specification claim?

I understand the specification always say "up to...". So the specification only mention the maximum amount of hour they can last. They never mention under what condition.

For example, my old Dell Vostro 1500 had a heavy 9-cell lithium battery. It said can last up to 6 hours, but in reality it never lasted me more than 3 hours even when it was new. Later on it lasted me no more than 2 hours each time.

My current laptop is a Surface Pro 4, and if I remember correctly they claim it can last "up to" 9~10 hours. The fact is, it never lasted me longer than 4 hours. I am not even using some really resource demanding applications. The most used software is Firefox, Word, Excel, and WinSCP. However, I always have dozens tabs open in my browser.

I guess the specification scenario rarely happen in real world use. For a lot of users, we always do multi-tasking. There are always more than just one software in use at any given time. I guess if I only use a single tab in Firefox, or if I only use Word with nothing else running int he background, it might last me longer, but the reality is such usage will never meet my needs.

How is everyone else' experience with your battery life?

 

My laptops battery life is terrible, I have it plugged in most of the time although I've heard that doing that can cause problems? Have you ever heard anything like that?

 

Yes, they all said that about the battery life span and how long it will last. In reality, it really depends on what kind of program you are running too. They probably just turn on the computer and let it sit there without doing anything on it.

My MacBook Air's battery usually last me over a day, but I don't do anything extreme with it. No download of any kind and no players playing! However, when I have to turn on Adobe Flash Player, it not only gets hot; it also sucks my battery down to half a day.

 

Are you sure you meant at least 24 hours when you said "usually last me over a day"? Or did you just mean you periodically use your laptop and it can last you through the day? If it is the former, that's awesome to you. If it is the latter, that's not even a comparison lol. I mean, if I only use my Surface Pro 4 for 10~15 minutes each time, and only use it on and off for total a few times a day, then I am sure I can manage through the whole day too.

The problem is, when I use it nonstop, it can only last me no more than 4 hours. Usually it is shorter depend on what I do. But the fact is, no matter what I do (I can just use a single program whatsoever), the battery never last half of what they claim. Their standard of "up to" must be really low. Idle is very likely lol. They probably just leave it on and do nothing with it. How is that even an accurate representation of the true battery life if it does not simulate real life usage?

 

I use my computer periodically throughout the day, at least 2-3 hours each time. And yes, the battery lasted me over a day! As I said, I don't run any other program beside using my laptop to write on sites and taking paid surveys. I don't turn my computer off during the day, but I do turn it off before I go to sleep.

THIS WAS WHAT I SAID: "They probably just turn on the computer and let it sit there without doing anything on it" exactly what you repeated: "They probably just leave it on and do nothing with it."

In general I agree that battery doesn't last as long as they said it would, if you read it again and comprehend.

 

Have you seen the self charging wires advertised? It's a USB on one end and a charging bit on the other so essentially it charges itself, I don't know how effective that would be though.

 

We never really do know in which conditions the manufacturers do their measurements. I think they probably do a calculation on how long it could last, but in a real life scenario it's impossible to hit their claims. There are always a lot of programs running in the background that we don't even know exist and all of that chews up a lot of power.

 

I've actually found the opposite of this lately. Not long ago I bought a brand new Lenovo laptop. According to the specifications, it has a battery life of up to four hours. However, after a few full charges, at times the battery actually lasted for up to six hours, sometimes slightly more. That does seem to have gone down now though after using it for a few months and seems to have settled of lasting an average of between four to five hours. I have adjusted my settings though, such as brightness, sync, updates, etc. My eyes are quite sensitive to light so I always end up having the brightness quite low.

 

What do you usually do on your laptop?
Seems like your tasks are quite "light". So it does not put much drain on the battery. Or maybe you have used the optimized settings for battery saver.

Yeah, I think they do the tests on a clean installation with very limited programs. Not only they do not use some high intense software, there is also lack of some common background programs such as anti-virus, etc. Even by just enable WIFi and bluetooth will drain the battery quicker than if they are disabled. It is not reasonable for us to keep these settings off most of the time. So we never see the results they get.